a European initiative to help implement knowledge-supporting geographic information services in the field of environment & security that require data from space observing systems. Launched in 1998 by the European Commission and a group of space agencies (ESA, national space agencies, Eumetsat, European Association of Remote Sensing Companies, Western European Union's Observation Centre, and Eurospace), the GMES initiative aims to provide Europe with independent and permanent access to the information flows generated in space.